Education is not a result, but a process

Last weekend Saint Petersburg hosted another educational festival "Open University". The main theme of the festival was Capital. The best professors from various universities gave 16 lectures within this educational project. One of the most interesting lectures was considered the one of Elena M. GASHKOVA, PhD in Philosophy, associate professor of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Department of Philosophy.

In the Media Center of the New Stage at the Alexandrinsky Theater Elena M. GASHKOVA delivered the lecture entitled "How Education Influences Human Capital". Human Capital is believed to be the foundation of the economy's intensive development, therefore leading countries put a top priority on investments into educational systems. However, what is the return on these investments? How does mass higher education affect the market?

The first statement Elena Mikhailovna made in her lecture was that education is actually acquisition of out-of-date knowledge, therefore "does it make sense to invest into it?"

The lecture of Elena M. GASHKOVA was followed by a discussion. One of the people who joined the discussion was Carina Sølling DAMM, Novo Nordisk analyst, former employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. She made a comparative analysis of the education systems as a key factor of human capital in Russia and Denmark. Ms Damm pointed out countries where human capital was closely related to the level of the economic development, what great investments into education could lead to, and how the situation could change in two decades.